Racket bow



1933. H. w. HALL 1,921,616

RACKET BOW Filed June 5, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet l muck-hi 4*, WW 5. w

Aug. 8, w HALL RACKET BOW Filed June 5, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Aug. 8, 1933 UNITED STATES foF'FIcEF RACKE'I ow Ho race WrHalL-NewtonsMass. hpplication -J une 5,1931; Serial No. 542,253 v 3 Claims. (01. 144m This invention relates to t'ennis rackets and theirmanufacture, and particularly to a racket of relatively light weight.

I 'here is considerable demand, especially by" 5 girls, for a racket of lighter thanstandard weight. Attempts to lighten a racket only an ounce or less have previously. been unsuccessful because they were thereby materially weakened by reducing the thickness or depth of the bow.

1 In order to attain lightness manufacturers did' the natural and obvious thing, that is, made the wooden bow thinner, with the result that they sacrificed strength to such an extent that light rackets were too fragile. In the development of the present light racket I have proceeded in an entirely different manner, and have thereby attained lightness without material sacrifice of strength.

While my chief object has been to makea light, strong racket, an accompanying object was to produce one attractive in appearance.

Still another object was to devise a new and economical method of manufacturing the wooden bow head and one whereby wooden laminations which have been steamed could be used and still have strong glue joints.

The foregoing and other objects which will appear as the nature of the invention is better understood, may be accomplished by a construc tion, combination and arrangement of parts suchas is disclosed by the drawings. Thenature of the invention is such as to render it susceptible to various changes and modifications, .and, therefore, I am not to be limited to the as: methods and construction disclosed by the drawings and specification; but am entitled to all such changes therefrom as fall within the scope of my claims. 7 i

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective view racket block bent around a caul with blotting paper between the wood laminations, partly broken away.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of a three-ply racket bow.

Figure 3 is a perspective view of a modified. form of my'invention showing a 5-ply racket bow. a

Figure 4 is an enlarged section taken on the line 44 of Figure 3 illustrating the 5-ply construction.

I Figure 5 is an enlarged section taken on the line 5--5 of Figure 2 illustrating the 3-p1y construction.

straight handle portion, is formed of three wood ing, and it should be observed that the lighter,

birch, which is hardjenough to withstand the side lamination 13' I choose a wood such as.

showing a V Figure 6 is a section taken on the line 66 of Figure l illustrating the assembly ofwood'laminationsand blotting paper between them.

As illustrated my tennis ;ra cket,bow, which includes the head or curved portion and the laminations, the two'outside 0nes 12 being of,- ahard, heavywoodsuch as birch, and the inside or centerlamination 13 being of a lighterTwood such as spruce, all three .of which arefo'f such thickness as to require treatment, such as 5 steam'ingjbe forebeingbent to bow shape? This combination of relatively light and heavywoods has been arrived at after much study and 'te'st' center lamination 13 is equal'in thickness, or 7 slightly thicker, than" said outside laminations' 12.- By thickness I refer to the actual thickness of the wood used, and which appea'rs'in and determines the width of the face of-the' racket,

.other words, I increase thethickness or i'acev width of the bow over other rackets, andyet they are lighter and of suflicient strength. y

r In forming my bow I choosea wood'such as t cutting tendencies of the string and is stiffer than ash, of approximately 5/32 thickness, for

the outside laminations 12. For the inspruce, which is much lighter than birch but 9 5, stronger in proportion to its weight, of a thickness of approximately 3/16". ,Ihese laminations are sufiiciently large so that about twelve racketbows may be cut out of one block, measuring roughly 63" x 10". They'must be steamed or otherwise treated to remove the internal stresses, and immediately after steaming and while in a saturated condition they are bent around a bow-shaped caul to the desired shape.

I separate the laminations from each other during this drying operation with a thin piece of blotting paper 15 or other absorbent material with the purpose in view ofthoroughly drying,

that is, absorbing the moisture .on the outside surface of each lamination so that a strong glue 7 dition; With this 5-ply construction said blot joint between them will be possible. The blotting paper absorbs the surface moisture as the wood is shaped, thereby thoroughly drying the surfaces of the laminations and making them receptive to glue. It also prevents darker wood .between it and each outer ply 12 a very thin lamination 16 of a dark wood such as walnut of approximately 1/32" in thickness. This walnut lamination 16 need not be steamed as it may.

be'bent around saidjcaul 14 in its natural conting paper 15 should be at least equal in thickness to said walnut lamination 16-so that during the drying process said laminations 12 and 1'3 will'be bentaround the caul to a shape which will later accommodate said thin 'laminations 16 when they are glued and inserted between the other laminations. nations 13 and 12 respectively are, of course, slightly thinner, when said walnut lamination 16 is. used. 1

The center and outer lami' I What I claim is: r p 1. A process in the manufacture of racket bows whereby laminations of wood are steamed, and immediately after steaming blotting paper placed between them and the whole bent around a caul to the shape of a bow.

2. The process whereby. a laminated racket bow is formed comprising steaming aplurality of 'wood laminations, placingthin sheets of absorbent material between them, bending said laminations and sheets around a caul to the shape of a racket bow, then removing said sheets and applying glue to the surfaces'of said laminations which were next to said sheets, then plac-' ing said laminations together and then placing said gluehas set.

3. A process in the manufacture of racket bows embodying steaming a plurality of wood laminations too thick to be bent to bow shape;

without damaging internal strain, then inserting blotting paper between them and bending them to the shape of a racket bow; then removing said blotting paper and applying glue" to the surfaces of said laminations whereby one may be glued to another, then placing said laminations together, and then keeping them bent tow the shape of a racket bow until said has set. 1 v

s HORACE W. HALL.

adhesive them on a caul and leaving them "there until 

